Foreign Relations of the United States, 1948, Western Europe, Volume III

865.24/6–2948

The Italian Ambassador (Tarchiani) to the Secretary of State

top secret

Washington, June 29, 1948.

No. 6351

The Italian Ambassador presents his compliments to the Honorable the Secretary of State and has the honor to draw his kind attention to the following.

As the Honorable the Secretary of State is certainly aware, Italian aviation, after the destruction of war and the limitations imposed by the Treaty of Peace, has been entirely crippled and is encountering the greatest difficulties even for elementary purposes of training of personnel and minimum needs of defense and protection.

The Italian Government, while strictly abiding by the clauses of the Treaty of Peace, has under study a program of reconstruction of its aviation, which, while being far from ambitious, aims solely to ensure the maintenance and continuation of the essential training and operations of Italian aircraft and aviation personnel.

The Italian Ambassador is transmitting the enclosed list¹ of the matériel which the Italian Ministry of Defense believes to be the bare minimal essential needs for the purposes outlined above. The Italian Government would deeply appreciate it if the American Government would examine the possibility of supplying to Italy the matériel listed in the enclosure possibly out of its surplus both in Europe and in the United States.

In this respect the Italian Ambassador has the honor to point out that the Italian competent authorities have instructed him to draw the attention of the American Government to the fact that should such request be denied, the Italian aviation would find itself in a most difficult predicament and certainly not in a position to perform its services.

The Italian Ambassador would be very grateful to the Honorable the Secretary of State if he would take under the utmost consideration the request outlined above, and in case of an affirmative answer if he would indicate the terms and conditions under which the matériel listed in the enclosure would be supplied. In this connection the Italian Ambassador has the honor to refer to the possibilities offered by the agreements Corbino–Bonner, of September 9, 1946.²

The Italian Ambassador has the honor to thank the Honorable the Secretary of State for his kind interest in the matter.³

A[lberto] T[archiani]

1. Not printed.
2. See Foreign Relations, 1946, vol. v, p. 932, bracketed note.
3. In telegraphic instruction 1973 of July 26, not printed, the Department requested the Embassy’s views on the Italian request for air force equipment which had been discussed in Washington with Stilwell, Military Adviser at the Embassy in Rome (865.20/7–2648).